Gundam 00: A Novelisation by Fiori161
by Fiori-161
Summary: 2307 AD: Man is still at war, despite solving it's energy problems with the collosal Oribital Elevators. To solve the problems of war, a shadowy organisation has appeared to challenge this world: Celstial Being, with it's advanced Mobile Weapons: GUNDAM
1. Celestial Being: Phase 1

COMMENCING FIRST PHASE

A.D 2301

Krugis Republic

The sun hung above the war-torn city in the Krugis Republic, gunfire blazing and echoing across the battlefield. As child soldiers ran through the streets, firing machine guns at hulking, armoured mobile suits, a voice can be heard, speaking to them over a loudspeaker;

"_This battle is a holy war in the name of God. We shall strike down the infidels who disrespect our traditions and lay waste to the land of God."_

The mobile suits rained heavy fire on the city, walking through the rubble and remaining walls and over the corpses of children; soldiers believing they were fighting for a higher purpose. The last soldier still breathing; a ten year old boy named Soren Ibrahim leans against a wall, breathing heavily as the voices continues its message;

"_We must not submit to the infidels."_

Looking up, Soren sees the mobile suits firing on each other, exploding as their armour is pierced and their pilots are killed. Soren starts running, firing on mobile suits. One fires back, flinging Soren to the ground. He quickly gets back on his feet, finding more cover just before another mobile suit fires on him. As he tries to catch his breath, gripping his gun tightly, the voice continues to preach its message;

"_By dying in battle, we shall be led into the presence of God!"_

Soren looks up, and sees that he's run into the remains of someone's home. Broken furniture and plates litter the stone ground, but what catches Soren's eye is a little girl's doll, still intact.

"In this world," Soren says bitterly, "there is no God."

As the infidel mobile suits continue to rain fire over the city, one of the Krugis mobile suits fires missiles at them, blowing off one of the infidel mobile suit's arm's off. It turns around, quickly finds its target, and opened fire with a machine gun mounted under its head. The bullets tear through Soren's cover, and he quickly throws himself to the ground, narrowly avoiding the bullets. He quickly gets up and starts running through the streets as the voice's message repeats itself.

'_In this world there IS no God!' _Soren thinks to himself as he runs, panicked, through the streets. The mobile suits fire on him and he ducks down into a corner. Soren quickly looks around, and realises that he's trapped. A mobile suit found him and advanced slowly, pushing Soren deeper into the corner until he back hit the wall. He grips his gun tighter as the machine takes aim at him. But just before it can kill Soren, a pink shaft of light strikes the mobile suit, tearing through its armour and bringing it down. Soren gasps in surprise, his eyes wide as the mobile suit crashes into the ground. All over the city, pink shafts of light take down all the mobile suits still standing, and they all hit the ground, mangled by the light. Soren gets up and looks around quickly, searching for what had destroyed the mobile suits. He looks up, his gun at his side and sees a bright light, shaped like an angels wings.

His eyes widened as he looked at the light. The light moves, and reveals a grey and white mobile suit, more human looking than the ones that laid waste to Krugis, holding a gun. Was that what had shot the pink light and saved his life? The machine looked down on him, and he began to tremble. For the first time in a long time, Soren wondered if there was a God.

****

A.D 2307

AEU Orbital Elevator

AEU Military Testing Ground

Today was a special day. It saw the debut of the brand new AEU mobile suit, the AEU Enact. Equipped with a sonic knife and a linear rifle, this mobile suit was the pinnacle of AEU technology. It flew through the proving ground, dodging automated machine gun fire, taking out the targets bolted to the guns. The aqua-green mobile suit took down all the targets, showing off its amazing agility and accuracy to the gathered crowd of spectators, seated in the nearby stands. Not all of them came from the AEU nations though; one was a man with long brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a white suit. His name was Billy Katagiri, and he was a scientist from the Union. He looked on at the mobile suit with a small smile.

"So, this is the Enact," he said to himself, "the first AEU mobile suit that runs on solar energy."

"The development of the AEU's orbital elevator is definitely lagging," a new voice said, and Billy looked up to see a blonde man in a dark suit standing next to him. "They probably want to make up for that by making their mobile suits state-of-the-art."

"Well, look at this," Billy said, smiling. It was Graham Acker, a mobile suit pilot for the Union. "Should the ace of M-Squad be showing his face here?"

Graham laughed as he walked to a free seat next to Billy. "Of course I shouldn't be here," he said as he sat down. Both looked out at the new mobile suit as it performed some flips, demonstrating its manoeuvrability before settling down into a landing.

"You know, the AEU has got some nerve all right," Billy said to Graham, "announcing their new model _at the same time _as the Human Reform League's tenth anniversary ceremony."

Ignoring the statement, Graham asked Billy, "So what do you think of this machine anyway?"

"To be perfectly honest," Billy said, casting a sidelong look at Graham, "It's just a knockoff of our Flag model. Only the exterior design is original."

"YOU THERE, I CAN HEAR YOU!" a voice said loudly. It came from the Enact; the pilot was speaking using a loudspeaker. The cockpit opened and the pilot stood up, obviously annoyed. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? WELL? COME ON!"

Graham chuckled. "Well, at least it's got good sound pickup."

"I guess so," Billy said with a laugh.

****

High above the ground, alongside the massive orbital elevator, unknown to the spectators, a bright light looked to be in freefall. It was a mobile suit; coloured blue, white and red with a large metal sword connected to a small looking shield. The blade was folded backwards, running alongside the suit's arm. It had a green crystal on its forehead, and its eyes had a similar coloured crystal as well. No mouth, but the suit was more human-looking than most other designs. On its back, a clear engine, slightly conical in shape and emitting glowing green particles as the suit fell toward the ground. The mobile suit's pilot was wearing a blue pilot suit, with a blue helmet that had a purple tinted visor. As the mobile suit rocketed to the ground, the pilot activated his mission recorder.

"240082: Exia has target location in sight. Cease GN Particle dispersal upon arrival at target." On the mobile suit's HUD, an image of the Enact appeared. "Target confirmed; commencing first phase on schedule." The mobile suit's speed picked up as it came closer to the ground, and an AEU desk jockey spotted it with his eyes, seeing a bright light heading toward the ground.

"Captain, I've spotted an incoming silhouette!"

"What?"

"It's at three o'clock sir," the jockey said, beginning a tracking sequence. Nothing came up at the location of the silhouette. 'What the hell?'

"Which squadron; this is an EXERCISE damn it! Warn them off!" The captain said as he stood up, slamming his hands on his desk.

Another jockey, to the captain's left, said "It's not showing up on our radar!" while typing frantically on his keyboard.

"There's nothing here sir," the jockey next to him said. But there was quite clearly something headed toward the AEU testing ground.

Desperately, the captain ordered them to get a visual on it. As their camera's focused, an image of the new mobile suit appeared on the screen. Everyone in the room gasped; this was a new model.

"Just what kind of a unit is _that?" _the captain asked no one in particular.

****

Far away, in an oval room filled with red light and multiple holographic readouts, an effeminate boy, no older than eighteen, floated in the centre. He was wearing a pilot suit like that of the mobile suit's pilot, but his was a dark purple. His skin was pale, and his purple hair hung just above his shoulders.

He opened his eyes and looked up at no one in particular, and whispered to himself, "It's begun."

****

Back at the testing ground, the pilot of the Enact was being told of the situation.

"What, an unknown?" he asked, "Why now of all times?" A short burst of static cut him off from his answers. He looked up, and surprise covered his face as he saw the mobile suit coming closer to them.

In the stands, Billy and Graham looked on at the new arrival as well as everyone else.

Billy was astounded to say the least when he said, "A mobile suit? Incredible, I didn't know they had _another _new model."

Graham was a bit more sceptical of the mobile suit. No way was it an AEU model; it looked too advanced. And why the hell would it come from the sky when it could just walk out of the hangers not too far away?

"That's not theirs," Graham said, but Billy didn't hear him. Graham's eyes narrowed when he saw the green particles coming out of the mobile suit's engine. "What is with that light?"

The new mobile suit came to a smooth landing and looked at the stands before turning toward the Enact. Everyone in the stands let out a collective breath, and an AEU official pulled out a com and tried to communicate with the Enact and its pilot.

"Enact, can you hear me Enact? Patrick?! Damn, I can't get through. What's going on here?"

Graham and Billy looked on at his attempts to get through to the Enact. "Communications are out," Graham said quietly, thinking hard. Maybe it had something to do with that light...

"Everyone," an AEU soldier said, "We've been advised to evacuate."

"It's NOT an AEU machine?" Billy asked loudly as everyone else began to get up and leave. "Well, whose is it?"

The pilot of the Enact quickly climbed back into the machine, the cockpit retracting into the chest of the mobile suit.

"Alright, just who the hell are you?" he asked the pilot of the new suit as he brought the Enact's systems online. "From the Union? Human Reform League? Well, either way: you're a party crasher and you weren't invited."

The Enact pilot brought the systems fully online, a yellow light crawling across the face of the Enact. "AND NOW YOU'RE GONNA PAY THE PRICE!"

The AEU official who had tried to contact the Enact's pilot, halfway through evacuating, stopped and saw that the Enact was getting ready to fight the new mobile suit. "What the hell is that idiot doing out there? Doesn't he know how much it cost to develop that thing?"

Another official came up next to him, a smile on his face. "It's a good opportunity; it'll just raise the value of the Enact. After all, Patrick Colasaur is our military's top ace, right? His personality could use a little work though."

Inside the Enact, Patrick stared down the new mobile suit, which hadn't made a move in retaliation to the Enact powering up. "Hey you, do you have any idea who you're messing with here? I'm Patrick Colasaur of the AEU. I've never lost a mock-battle, coz I'm just that special." The Enact drew its sonic knife, which sent its vibrations through the air, making several spectators clutch at their ears. "SO DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU."

"That idiot!" the official yelled as the Enact began to charge at the new mobile suit.

"WELL, COME ON!" Patrick called out to the pilot of the new mobile suit.

The pilot of the new mobile suit didn't respond to his call. He wasn't here to take part in some pissing contest; he had a mission to complete here. Take down the AEU Enact.

"Exia, ready for target elimination," he said as he gripped the controls.

The Enact stabbed outward with its knife, and the mobile suit Exia's eyes flashed and it drew its sword, the blade folding outward into a combat ready position. Exia brought the weapon up and cut into the Enact, severing its hand.

"What the hell?" Graham exclaimed as the hand came free from the Enact, hitting the ground as the sonic knife it clutched died. The pilot of Exia didn't blink; but Patrick on the other hand, was enraged to say the least.

"You bastard, you don't get it do you?" Patrick brought the Enact's rifle up and fired, hitting the Exia in the chest. The charge from the linear rifle spread across Exia's chest, but all the pilot did was make the Exia twist and drew a pink beam saber.

As Patrick bragged "I'm special! I've had two thousand of these mock-battles!" The Exia quickly brought the Enact down by severing both of its arms and removing its head. Exia sheathed both its large sword and the beam saber, the Enact came crashing to the ground. The AEU officials were surprised to say the least; all that money into developing the Enact, and it was dispatched in only a few seconds by this new mobile weapon.

Graham wanted a closer look at this mobile suit. Glancing down, he saw someone with a pair of binoculars. "Excuse me," he said as he snatched them out of the man's hands, bringing them to his own eyes. When the guy began to complain, Graham cuts him off, saying, "I _said _excuse me."

Using the binoculars he looked over the mobile suit, looking over the sharp, angular design of the mobile suit. Graham had never seen anything like it, ever. He focused on the head of the suit, and found something interesting. Above the crystal in its forehead, there was a word engraved in block letters.

"GUN...DAM," Graham said slowly, lowering the binoculars as he did, "Is that the name of the mobile suit or something else?"

"A... gundam?" Billy asked, looking out at the now stationary mobile suit. Gundam...what else could this thing do?

****

The pilot of Exia began powering up the GN Drive, speaking more data into his mission recorder, "Exia, first phase complete; now proceeding to second phase." The reactor on the back of Exia began to glow as the pilot powered it up, the particles coming out of its back increasing in number. Exia lifted off of the ground and turned away from the crowd looking on at it and rose into the sky.

"Again with that light," Graham said, still curious about what caused that light.

Billy, on the other hand, had switched into his scientist mode. "How can it fly without a propulsion system?"

As the Gundam flew into the sky, Patrick climbed out of the Enact's cockpit, screaming for the Gundam. Graham looked down at the unfortunate ace of the AEU military, and was surprised that he had climbed out of that.

"That's pretty impressive," Graham said, "I guess the brand-new Enact deserves high marks for pilot safety." Looking up at the Gundam, Graham's eyes narrowed as he started talking to himself. "But that mobile suit is a whole other thing. Was this meant to hamper the AEU's military build up, or maybe it's just meant to be a warning. Whatever the case, there's no way the AEU is going to take something like this lying down."

Graham was right; an alarm began to sound, and the military began to sortie their Helion mobile suits to attack the Gundam. These mobile suits were able to change between a flight mode and a mobile suit mode, but right now they would use their strengths and go after the new mobile suit tin their flight mode, where they'd have the advantage. They scrambled two Helions from the ground, and they flew up to tail the Gundam.

****

Celestial Being  
Transport Ship Ptolemaios

Up in space, the spaceship Ptolemy orbited the planet. The bridge crew monitored Exia's mission status. Without direct contact; they needed to keep radio silence for now between the Exia and the ship, they only had estimations on when Exia would move on with the plan.

"Ptolemy perimeter density, maintaining mission mode," one of Ptolemy's tactical operator, Christina Sierra said, keeping the mission data between everyone on the bridge. "Exia has past the scheduled operation time for first phase; it is most likely in the second phase now."

The ship's container ring began to move. The other tactical operator, Feldt Grace, began loading the containers contents to the Ptolemy's catapult deck.

"Container loading completed; moving Kyrios to catapult deck."

Kyrios, a jet-like mobile suit, began its descent into the catapult deck. Its pilot, a man by the name of Alleluiah Haptism was talking to himself. He was wearing an orange pilot suit, the same design as the Exia pilot's suit. As the suit was loaded, Alleluiah began talking to himself.

"A real battle Halleluiah," he said as he put on his helmet, "Just what you wanted. But this is depressing to me." Kyrios was placed inside the catapult's linear field as Feldt began moving through the procedures. A holographic readout stated CAUTION; the linear field hadn't been stabilised.

"Kyrios on catapult deck," she said as the Kyrios moved into position, "increasing linear catapult voltage from 230 to 520. Kyrios stabilised with linear field. Launch preparations complete. Transferring timing controls to Kyrios." The holographic readout switched from CAUTION to STANDBY, and Kyrios was in its final position for launching.

"Roger," Alleluiah confirmed, "I have control: Kyrios, now commencing operation." He clicked a button on his controls and pulled them back, activating the linear catapult and launching Kyrios into space. Stabilisers extended from Kyrios and with a burst of GN Particles from its engine, it shot off towards Heaven's Pillar, the HRL's Orbital Elevator.

FIRST PHASE: COMPLETE


	2. Celestial Being: Phase 2

Hey all, hope you're enjoying this novelisation. These things take FOREVER to write, so be patient with me.

Read On and Enjoy!

* * *

COMMENCING PHASE 2

Human Reform League  
Orbital Elevator  
Heaven's Pillar

This was the location of the 10th anniversary celebration of the Human Reform League's solar power grid coming online. All the top brass were there, as well as invited guests and reporters. One of them was still broadcasting a report.

"-Orbital elevator number two, better known as Heaven's Pillar; here on the geostationary orbital station, a festive party is underway, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the stations very first electricity transmission."

Inside the station, hundreds of guests were in the room, only comfortable because the lack of gravity made it possible to stand on the ceiling and the walls, as well as keep out of other people's way. The reporter continued her broadcast.

"Partygoers include ambassadors from the Human Reform League nations, corporate executives and military personnel, all of whom contributed to the construction of the orbital elevator itself."

Near the large window that encompassed the party space, a young sixteen year old girl was staring out. Her name was Wang Lu Mei, and she was awaiting the party's 'special' guests. A waiter floated up behind her, offering her a beverage.

She turned around and grinned. "Yes, I'll take one." The waiter, despite the fact that she was clearly a young girl, blushed at her looks. "You know," she said, deciding to embarrass the young man even further, "some people think _real _men don't blush." She giggled and floated away, taking a long sip of her drink, which because of the zero-gravity was encased in a glass bottle with a straw poking out. As she went back to her previous position, her brother and bodyguard Hong Long floated up beside her.

"It has begun, my mistress," he whispered, and Wang Lu Mei looked out of the window, anticipation building in her chest.

****

Back on Earth, Exia was in trouble. The Helions had caught up, and their number's had increased to three. Using a GN Pistol hidden inside the shield of its sword, Exia fired at the Helions, which moved out of the way. Quickly switching the GN Blade to its sword mode, Exia quickly moved after a Helion and slashed at it, severing one the suits inactive arms. The Helion, disabled, began its descent to the ground. Exia watched it for a few seconds, and then resumed its mission. More Helions appeared as Exia got closer to the orbital elevator.

One of the Helion pilots locked on to the mobile suit, saying "Gotcha," as he fired at it. The shots missed as Exia turned to the Helions, and they peeled off, preparing for another run at it.

One of the pilots commented on the mobility of the Exia, despite it not having a visible propulsion system. "I never knew a machine could do that!"

His wingman replied with a scalding tone, "Don't break formation. Reinforcements are on their way."

And they were. Troops stationed on the orbital elevator, despite the Treaty between the nations on the stationing only allowed a few troops; the AEU had quite deliberately neglected to follow that rule. Another squad of Helions followed the path set out by the elevator, heading for the Exia. Unknown to them, the pilot of the Exia was recording them; its mission had been to confirm that the AEU had ignored treaty limitations for the orbital elevators.

"As we thought," he said into his mission recorder, "The AEU has stationed forces in the pillar." Exia rocketed up the elevator, targeting the Helions.

On the ground, another Gundam was nestled in the rocks. It had a large sniper rifle in its hands, and its pilot, Lockon Stratos, lounged in the cockpit, waiting for Exia to get into trouble. Lockon liked the kid pilot of Exia, but he was a little rash sometimes.

Lockon's co-pilot, an orange Haro, began saying his name. "Lockon, Lockon, reinforcements approaching, reinforcements approaching."

Lockon laughed to himself. "Even Setsuna would have trouble in this situation. Well, let's take aim shall we?" In the cockpit, a large apparatus descended for Lockon to use his sniper rifle. As Lockon moved himself into position, he said triumphantly, "Let's go: the Gundam Dynames and Lockon Stratos in our maiden battle!" The gun began charging as Exia became surrounded by Helions. Exia dodged and blocked all the fire the Helions threw at it, but they had already wised up to its sword and were staying well out of range, keeping it where they wanted through bombardment.

"Keep your distance," the leader said, "It may be new but there's only one. Surround it!" As the fire died down, Exia turned to see one of the Helions get shot through by a pink shaft of light.

"En, enemy attack!" one of the pilots was beginning to panic.

"From where?" the leader asked. In answer to his question, a second shaft came from the ground, through the clouds and shot down the panicking pilot.

"It's from below!"

"It's Lockon," the pilot of Exia, Setsuna, said, looking down. Dynames was still settled against the rocks, and Lockon was enjoying shooting them down. Shot after shot came from the rifle it held, and all Lockon had to do was pull the trigger.

"Dynames is targeted and ready to fire!" Helion after Helion fell to Dynames' uncannily accurate shots.

The leader, preoccupied with his troops being taken out from ground fire, didn't notice the Exia come up in front of it until his warning alarms came up. The last thing the leader saw was Exia's blade slash through the armour plating of the mobile suit. As Exia's eyes flashed, Setsuna said "so the second phase..."

Lockon disabled Dynames' scope as he finished Setsuna's sentence, "is now complete." It was up to Tieria and Alleluiah now.

****

Back at the testing grounds, Billy and Graham were sitting in Billy's modified four wheel drive discussing the Gundam's motives.

"So that mobile suit is exposing the AEU's undeclared fighting strength?" Billy asked, amazed that Graham could understand the Gundam's motives so quickly.

"Yeah," Graham answered, "It looks to me like it's trying to show the world that the AEU has more military power than is actually allowed by the treaty limitations. This is a check _and _a warning."

Billy looked at Graham incredulously when he asked, "And why would it want to do that?"

Graham leant back in his chair and looked at Billy. "_That's _something you're gonna have to ask the pilot of that 'gundam' thing. But you know," he continued as he looked out at the orbital elevator, "I really can't see the AEU keeping quiet after this."

****

Human Reform League  
Geostationary Orbital Station

Space junk collided with the orbital elevators shield system, which reflected all of it back into space. Nothing got through that field and survived. Inside the station, a HRL monitoring crew kept tabs on all the junk that hit the shields.

"Another reading on the E-Sensor," one of the desk jockey's said.

"There's been a lot of debris floating out there today," another one commented, "it sure seems like an awful lot of mass."

Another jockey wasn't too worried. "It's probably just the remains of an old generation satellite."

Their leader came up behind them. "Get a visual at maximum magnification. Don't forget, there's a ceremony still going on."

"Roger that captain," the jockey said and got an image at max magnification. What they saw was not good; debris looked like it was trying to get through the orbital elevators shielding.

"I'm going to try and enlarge the image, sir!" The enlarged image showed something worse than debris.

The captain's eyes narrowed. "Those look like mobile suits!"

The desk jockeys were impressed by the plan; not by the site. "Incredible, they snuck in with the debris!"

"If they get interference from the shield," one said, making some quick calculations, "the mobile suit, along with the pilot, will be-" he didn't get to finish as one of the mobile suits exploded, demonstrating the ending of the jockey's sentence. "Ah, what did I tell ya?"

"It looks like these guys are pretty determined," the captain growled.

"Are they terrorists?" one of the jockeys asked, turning to the captain, who didn't answer directly.

"Give the order for the Third Defence force to scramble!"

An alarm began to sound and the HRL's signature mobile suit, the Tieren began to mobilize. All its pilots began to move, and one of the high ranking officers was not happy with the turn of events.

"They're using Helions? Damn AEU; this is happening because they'll sell weapons to any little tin-pot nation.

At the party, all of the officers were beginning to leave, evacuating for all intents and purposes, while leaving the other partygoers clueless about the situation.

Wang Lu Mei and Hong Long watched as they left, and Mei smiled to herself. "Oh my," she said with a sarcastic tone, "It seems like everyone with a rank is only interested in saving their own lives."

"Shall we evacuate?" Hong Long asked.

"Of course not!" she replied, "But kudos to Miss Sumeragi; her forecast was remarkably accurate."

****

The Third Defence force's mobile suits began to sortie.

The squad leader began to coordinate with the other pilots, "B3 area maximum priority. 300 seconds until backup team scrambles; prevent unknowns from entering non-combat area." With that, the Tierens launched at the terrorist Helion squad.

The observation station contacted the squad, "Control to all units: unknowns will reach pillar in 0287."

"All units," the superior officer said, "control altitude. Block the enemy en route."

Control contacted the squad again. "The enemy has changed course."

One of the pilots cursed. "Damn it, they're hiding behind the ring!"

"After them!" the commander ordered.

"But commander, we're on our own," one of the pilots said.

"Stay focused men!" All the Tierens began to fire at the Helions, but they managed to stay ahead of the fire, still heading toward the pillar.

Two of the Helions were carrying a large weapon, aiming at the control station.

"The enemy is getting ready to open fire," one of the jockeys said. True to form, the terrorists launched three missiles at the pillar.

"They're on course for a direct hit!"

"There's no time to intercept them!" The control team braced itself for the impact. Out of nowhere, the missiles exploded before they hit, showering the pillar with a barrage of debris that the stabilisers could handle, but it still shook the station.

At the party, one of the rich women asked what it was, and Wang Lu Mei answered quietly, "It's a Gundam. Gundam Kyrios." And she was right; the orange mobile suit rocketed toward the scene, leaving behind a trail of particles.

The Tieren squad followed after the Helions, wondering who the hell he was.

Not to anyone in particular, Alleluiah said "Miss Sumeragi's forecasting really is amazing." Kyrios went after the terrorist mobile suits, shooting one down. The Helions returned fire, but Kyrios was way too fast; it dodged all the fire and moved into position to take another mobile suit out. Rocketing past the remains, Alleluiah spied the last suit, heading straight to the pillar.

"A suicide attack? These terrorists are all the same," Alleluiah growled, then activated his com. "Tieria, come in!"

As the control station began to panic, the image suddenly cut off to static as another mobile suit rose in front of the terrorist's path. It wasn't just that image though; all communication devices had cut out. Wang Lu Mei, floating upside down with her eyes closed, commented, "The Virtue."

The latest Gundam was more armoured than the other, with GN Condensers conserving its particles. All the armour gave this Gundam, Virtue, a more bulky appearance. Its pilot was Tieria Erde, an effeminate looking boy of around eighteen.

"Virtue, preparing to destroy target," Tieria said, bringing Virtue's formidable GN Bazooka up into a firing position. The gun began to charge, and loosed an awesome beam of pink light, that practically disintegrated the mobile suit. But the beam kept going for another few seconds before it finally ran out of juice. Alleluiah, on the other side of the pillar, shook his head as Virtue moved its cannon back beside it, finishing its flourish. "Confirming third phase now complete," Tieria said unemotionally.

"Don't you think that was just a little bit _excessive?" _Alleluiah asked sarcastically. Of course it was excessive! But Tieria would be Tieria, after all.

****

All the partygoers witnessed Virtue's display of power, gasping as the mobile suit it shot at was turned into a purple could of debris. The reporter and her camera crew had caught the entire thing, but they had less idea of what had destroyed the terrorist than anyone else.

"Those were...what were they?" the reporter asked to no one. They all just stared at the Gundam's awesome power.

****

Union Special Economic Zone  
Tokyo

In Tokyo, the news had been the same; unknown party or parties had fended off a terrorist attack at Heaven's Pillar. The news report, delivered from a newsreader with image's of Virtue destroying the suicidal Helion playing behind her.

"Good morning this is JNN News. In our lead story; we continue our coverage of the attack on the high orbital station of the Human Reform League's orbital elevator, Heaven's Pillar. Early this morning, around daybreak Japan time, the Human Reform's League high orbital station was attacked by what appears to have been terrorist mobile suits." The image on the massive screens littered through Tokyo cut to the reporter who was present at the party, the party room now empty apart from her and her camera crew.

"At approximately 6 PM Greenwich Mean Time, mobile suits launched missiles at the high orbital station in what is now thought to have been a terrorist attack."

Taking over the screen now was a recording of Virtue's defence of the orbital station, taken by the news crew during the attack.

"Subsequently," the newsreader continued, "the missiles were then intercepted by an as-yet-unidentified mobile suit. These images were taken by the JNN news crew who happened to be on location at the time." The shaky camera zoomed up on Virtue, which was now surveying the scene of the attack without moving.

In a cafe, an attractive blonde girl rushed up to a good spot to watch the news report, her boyfriend trailing behind her.

"What's up?" she asked a man sitting nearby, "What's going on?" the man turned to her and her boyfriend and told them that the lone mobile suit had taken out all the terrorists. "In a mobile suit?" the girl, Louise Halevy, asked incredulously, looking at the screen.

Her boyfriend, Saji Crossroad, directed his attention to the man and asked, "Which military is he with?"

"Apparently, that's what they don't know," the man replied.

Saji looked back at the screen. "What does all this mean?" he asked under his breath. He hated when things like this happened; they always had consequences.

A loud beeping sounded and the image cut back to the newsreader, who said, "We have an update on the incident. JNN has just received a video message from an organisation that claims it is responsible for preventing the attack and saving the station. It's not clear who they are, or if the claims they are making in the video are genuine. But what is clear is that somehow they are involved in the incident. Now for our viewers we will broadcast it, unedited."

The screen changed again, this time showing an old man with a cane, sitting on a high back chair. He was dressed in a black suit with a purple shirt. After a few moments, the man began to speak.

"I would like to address this statement to every single human being born and raised on Earth. We call ourselves simply, Celestial Being. We are a private armed organisation in possession of the mobile weapon GUNDAM." As he paused, Louise started talking.

"An armed force?" she asked.

"What is Celestial Being?" Saji asked, not bothering to answer his girlfriend's question.

On a veranda, Saji's sister, journalist Kinue Crossroad, looked at a screen showing the man's message as he continued.

"The main objective of Celestial Being's activities is to completely eliminate acts of war and conflict from this world. We do not act for our own benefit, or for personal gain. We have chosen to intervene for the greatest goal of all; to rid ourselves of the scourge of war."

****

Union Presidential Residence, Human Reform League Chairman's Office, AEU Central Assembly

The man's message continued across the globe, reaching the Union's president, the HRL's chairman and the AEU's Assembly, who watched on.

"As of this moment, I make this declaration to all humanity. Territory, religion, energy, no matter the reason or excuse, if there is an evident act of war being carried out; we will commence intervention with armed force. Any country, organisation or corporation that promotes war will also be a legitimate target for our intervention. We simply call ourselves Celestial Being. We are a private armed organisation that was established to eliminate all acts of war from this world. I repeat-"

****

As the man repeated his message, an officer from the HRL, stationed on Heaven's Pillar, stated "He's claiming responsibility." The officer admired him for that; not many people would willingly stand up and declare himself the enemy of the world.

****

In an AEU hospital, Patrick Colasaur was screaming at the TV screen in his room. "Those are the guys? Those are the ones that put me through all of this?!"

****

Back at the veranda in Tokyo, Kinue looked at the screen as the message repeated itself, and then started as she recognised him. "That... that man..."

****

On one of the linear trains headed between the high orbital station and the ground, Wang Lu Mei had a smug look on her face. "The world is beginning to change..." she said to her brother as the elevator continued its journey down.

****

In the Kingdom of Azadistan, the Princess Royal watched the message with a heavy heart.

"They want to solve the problem of war," she said, looking down, "with more war." No good would come of that.

****

In Billy's car, Graham laughed loudly and almost maniacally as he tore through the desert away from the AEU testing ground.

"Now that's rich!" he said as he drove, "They really want to use force to eliminate war? Celestial Being, you're whole existence is a contradiction."

****

Looking out over a sprawling metropolis, Alejandro Corner, wearing a red suit, swirled a glass of wine in his hand.

"Ribbons," he said, addressing his butler, "It has begun: Humanity's reformation."

****

On the bridge of the Ptolemaios, the crew looked out at space, listening to the man's message.

Alleluiah and Tieria were there, and Alleluiah couldn't help himself. "Halleluiah," he said, "it's as if all the worlds evils are exposed."

Tieria looked away from space, and said flatly, "Humanity is being tested...by the power of Celestial Being."

The tactical forecaster, Sumeragi Lee Noriega, looked down as she said "That is a terrible misdeed." Tieria didn't hear her, and she was glad he didn't. He would've seen it as a sign of weakness.

****

On an island somewhere in the pacific, Lockon turned off a portable viewing screen, a sombre look on his face.

"Well this is it," he said, "We've started it, and it can't be stopped."

Haro, bouncing at his heel, said cheerfully, "It won't stop, it won't stop, it won't stop."

Lockon turned to Setsuna, who was beginning to take off his helmet. "Hey, we just picked a fight with the entire world," he said to his partner, "Do you know what that means Setsuna?" he asked.

Setsuna fully removed his helmet. In the six years since the fighting in Krugis, he hadn't changed all that much. His hair and eyes were still the same, but the eyes that had once looked on at a shining Gundam were now cold and determined.

"Yeah," he replied in a flat voice, "I know." As he looked up at Exia and Dynames, the two Gundams standing side by side, he continued, "I know because we're the Gundam Meisters of Celestial Being." He gazed at Exia, his Gundam with intensity unlike anything Lockon had ever seen. The Gundam Meisters would change the world. Whether for good or ill, that remained to be seen.

PHASE 2 END


End file.
